FAKE DOCTOR IN ENCINITAS SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS IN PRISON

Patient of woman with no medical license nearly died

San Diego 
A woman who claimed to be a medical doctor and treated patients at an office in Encinitas, including one who had to be hospitalized with organ failure, was sentenced Monday to three years in custody.

Kathleen Ann Helms, 57, of Scripps Ranch, pleaded guilty in October to four counts of conspiracy to practice medicine without a license and agreed to the sentence. She will be allowed to serve half that time in county jail.

With credit for good behavior, her time behind bars will likely be reduced to about nine months. She will have to serve the remaining 18 months under mandatory community supervision by the county Probation Department.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Dwayne Moring sentenced Helms, who was in a wheelchair Monday, in keeping with her plea agreement.

“This isn’t a case that the court takes lightly,” Moring said near the end of the hearing, adding that Helms’ actions nearly cost the life of at least one of the four victims linked to the charges.

The judge asked the defendant if she understood the consequences of her actions.

“I would never put anyone’s life in danger,” she said.

According to prosecutors, Helms promised patients she could cure Lyme disease, an infection spread by tick bites and treated in its early stages with antibiotics. She charged thousands of dollars to those she treated and infused them with a chemical industrial solvent called dimethyl sulfoxide, or DMSO, which is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One of the patients became seriously ill and was treated at a hospital for organ failure, prosecutors said.

A website for BrightHouse Wellness Center listed Helms as a doctor of naturopathy, a master herbalist and a certified nutritionist.

Deputy District Attorney Gina Darvas said Helms was not licensed to practice traditional or alternative medicine.

Outside the courtroom Monday, Francie Epperson of Fallbrook said she and her husband’s Lyme disease had gone misdiagnosed for years before they consulted with Helms. She said the alternative treatments Helms recommended were effective.

“We feel that she saved our lives,” Epperson said.

Jacqueline Smith, 57, who worked with Helms, was accused of passing herself off as a nurse at BrightHouse Wellness Center. She was sentenced to a year in jail.